If I was dying, would you save me? Would you even care?

"You're not alone, you know."

If I messed everything up, if I hurt you, could you ever forgive me?

"We can fix this together."

If I wasn't like you, could you still love me?

"This isn't how our story ends."

My first thought is that my head feels weird. Dizzy, like I had slept without taking a shower. I don't know what it was with me, but if I don't take a shower before I sleep, especially if I had sleep somewhere new, my head feels this way. It's uncomfortable, sure, but when I look around me and don't recognize any of the trees, it helps me realize three facts at the same time.

1. I'm too dizzy to have slept in my bed last night.

2. My head is too dizzy for me to have taken a shower last night.

3. These trees are taller than most, or I grew shorter.

I would outright dismiss the idea that I have grown smaller in most contexts, but my whole body feels… weird. I can't explain how, but as I move around, everything feels off.

My hands are blue. My arm have some huge, weird white lumps on them. Is this fur? What am I doing with fur on? I gently grab it to see if it will come off-it does not. It resists too much to have been hastily glued on, or even to be glued on with normal glue. Either this is some very strong glue, and expert craftsmanship, or I now have blue…. Is this fur? I feel it again-Nope. This is smooth, it's skin.

Objectives:

1. Find out what I look like.

2. Find out why I've changed.

3. Take a shower.

Without any mirror or body of water in my immediate vicinity, it's hard to tell what I look like. I stand up. I'm still dizzy, but I'm getting a little better, now. I wobble a tad to keep my balance, and as I do, a black object swings in front of me, lightly hitting my nose. I reach across my head to find it, and drag in front of my face. It's black and somewhat oval shaped. It feels light. What is with my body?

Am I an alien? A pokemon?

Or am I something else entirely?

I guess, since there's nothing useful here, all I can do is pick a direction and walk.

A shriek echoes through the forest. It sounds like a girl's. I can feel (somehow) the black things on either side of my face perking up for a second. I know which direction to run, and before I can think, my feet are moving. Running. Running towards danger. I am dizzy. Why am I running toward danger? Running.

I see a ralts and an umbreon's foot on her throat. The ralts makes faint groaning noises. She looks bruised. So does the umbreon, I suppose, but she looks more angry than injured. I'm still running.

I don't stop. I twist and slam my shoulder into the umbreon. She and I land on the ground near the injured ralts. I give the umbreon a quick kick to the ribs and run over to ralts, grabbing her back and standing her up.

"Thank you," she says. Yeah. She's talking. Okay. Nope. That's fine. Everything's fine. I don't have time to even worry about why this ralts can talk. With her mouth. Which yeah, pokemon totally do that all the time. Not. Whatever. Not important. I grab her hand and we run. Where are we running to? No clue. Away? I don't want to get killed by that umbreon. I see her standing up to chase us as we begin to run.

Run. Run. Run.

This ralts is injured. She can't run as fast as the umbreon chasing us.

Stop.

The umbreon can't stop in time to avoid a punch to the face (I guess I must be small, since I'm punching her in the face without reaching down). I quickly drop to the ground and wrap my arm around her neck. I wish I had actually continued with judo lessons when I was young, then I would know how to do a sleeper hold correctly, but since I'm behind her, her legs can't touch me, and her struggling and bucking isn't doing much. My grip is strong, though I'm sure it's only strong because I'm desperate.

Her struggling grows weaker and weaker until it eventually stops. I wait a few more seconds before releasing my grip. I've been told that doing this for too long can kill someone. As scared as I am, I don't know for sure what was going on between the two, so allowing anyone to die is certainly too extreme.

I grab the hand of the ralts, who must have stopped when I did, and we continue to run. She tugs my hand and guides me to our right, where we eventually find a small dirt path.

After walking for a while in the path, we reach a park of sorts. There's a fountain, some benches, and there are a few flowerbeds here and there, all with varying flowers, though it seems like daisies are a favorite here. I help the ralts to the nearest bench and sit down with her. Finally, now, I can ask some of my questions.

"Are you okay?" I ask, instinct over-taking my burning curiosity.

"I'll be fine, thank you. I'm so lucky you were around. What were you doing off the path?" She replies quietly. She rubs her neck after she speaks.

"I'm not fully sure. I just kinda ended up there, I guess. Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I mean, I won't be able to do my guild examination today, which isn't what I was hoping for, but I'm sure they'll understand when I explain it to them."

"Guild examination?"

"Yeah. To be part of a Rescue and Expedition Team."

"Huh. What is that?"

"You've never heard of a RET? You must not be from around here. Oh of course you're not. You're a riolu, so you've probably been up training in the mountains. But if you're down here that means…"

"Means what?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I know the lucarios have super strict and tough standards. Don't worry about being rejected, you still seem tough. That said, though, are you okay? I opened my eyes and you and you and that umbreon were on the ground. Thank you for your help, by the way."

"I'm fine. I just need to clean myself a bit. Actually, there's fountain over there, I'm going to splash some water on my face." I walk over to the fountain, cup some water in my hands, and splash it on my face. I take this chance to look at my reflection. As the water calms down, it becomes clear. Yep. I am a riolu. My reflection moves his head in a perfect mirror of my own movements. But I was a human yesterday. Is this a dream? No, if this was a dream, I wouldn't be thinking it's a dream. So what is going on?

"So why was that umbreon attacking you, anyway?" I ask as I return.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I was just taking a long walk around the forest before my exam… Oh shit, I need to let them know about the exam! And I'm sure you have somewhere you need to go, too."

"Well, no, not really."

"Oh, well then. I uh... could use a partner. And it would be nice to start at the same time as someone else. Do you- do you want to form a RET team with me?" She avoids eye contact as she asks. I hadn't even thought about what I was going to do next. I'm a riolu now. A RET explores. If I'm going to find a way back to my world, I'm going to need to explore. At this point, this is probably my best opportunity. And this girl seems nice. If it doesn't work out, I can always just leave.

"Sure. Let's do it!"

"Oh my Arceus thank you!" She yells, hugging me. I flinch at first, but slowly return the hug. "I didn't want to be partnered with some random pokemon. And you saved me. Plus, you seem like you'll make a great friend."

"I hope I live up to that expectation." I gently stroke her back.

"I'm sure you will."